Nearer Horizons

Last night’s D&D session went well enough for an ongoing trek through the Underdark. I mean, nobody died, even if we are now captured (again; this is becoming a bad habit of ours). My half-orc wizard made it to Level 3 by the skin of his teeth, so he finally has access to some higher-powered spells, which means he might actually be helpful in the future.

Work on “Beasts” yesterday was steady, if not exceptional. I’m finding myself making faces at the limited amount of space available for exposition, though. Part of me wants to go on at length about the main character’s background, since I now know a great deal about what he was up to in the years prior to this little adventure.

(Un)fortunately, I have to remind myself of that vital truism: readers don’t need every damned detail to enjoy a story.

Which, of course, means I’m going to have to bite my lip and hold off on the self-serving expository spew I keep wanting to insert into that section. But such is life, and I think you guys will catch on just fine without some kind of poorly disguised history lesson that exists only to validate an impressive-to-me stack of backstory notes.

I’ve also been making tweaks to the description of the scenery, making sure that it reflects, at least in some basic way, the reality of a view from the surface of this particular moon. I wasn’t too far off the mark originally (I do try to do my homework, even if things almost always devolve into swordfights on the page), but one thing I hadn’t properly accounted for last time was how…close the horizon would be.

Basically, the horizon’s only about a half-mile away at any given time, provided an unobstructed view—as opposed to the threeish miles you could expect on Earth. This leads to some interesting visuals, in that some things sink off beyond your line of sight far sooner than they would in most places humans are wont to be found.

A big thanks is owed to my social media horde, who patiently fielded this question and helped with the specifics. It might only amount to two or three lines in the text, but I like to think they’re important ones, so if you helped me with the horizon problem, you’ll be able to proudly point to those lines and say, “Hey, that was me.”

Around the office, things are pretty relaxed today. I don’t have any standing obligations outside my work (and the usual demands of the cats), so it’s shaping up to be a nice writing and freelancing day indeed.

Here’s hoping your day is equally full of potential, however you may spend it!